On The Wall Street Journal: "A group of activists who favor the city's recent investments in bike lanes, pedestrian-only street plazas and other urban elements that don't cater to cars have a plan for ensuring the movement continues: a political-action committee. The group will announce the launch of StreetsPAC on Thursday, and has already secured about $30,000 in pledges from supporters, organizers said."
ORIGINAL ARTICLE AVAILABLE AT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323789704578443391351395804.html
New PAC to Back Pedestrians, Bikes
By TED MANN
A group of activists who favor the city's recent investments in bike lanes, pedestrian-only street plazas and other urban elements that don't cater to cars have a plan for ensuring the movement continues: a political-action committee.
The group will announce the launch of StreetsPAC on Thursday, and has already secured about $30,000 in pledges from supporters, organizers said.
In the coming days, the group plans to distribute questionnaires on street-level transportation questions to candidates for City Council and citywide office, said Doug Gordon, a TV writer and producer who serves on his local community board and writes Brooklyn Spoke, a blog on streets and transportation policy.
Mr. Gordon said the group's focus on local elections is deliberate. That is where advocates for developments that accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians could be elected—or defeated—especially in the transition years immediately after the Bloomberg administration.
"Your local City Council person may have more influence on safety and enhancement of your neighborhood's streets than the mayor," Mr. Gordon said. "If I see a street corner that I feel is dangerous in my neighborhood, I don't call the mayor's office first. I call my City Council members."
The PAC is only the latest group seeking to shake up local politics in 2013. Another organization—NYC Is Not For Sale—has taken aim at Council Speaker Christine Quinn, seeking to block her Democratic candidacy for mayor.
StreetsPAC will provide greater flexibility than what advocates can expect from some of the nonprofit organizations that already vocally support amenities, such the city's growing network of bike lanes and its impending bike-sharing program.
As a political committee registered with the state and city, StreetsPAC can endorse political candidates, give money to campaigns, and mobilize volunteers to help with overtly political tasks, said Steve Vaccaro, a partner in the law firm Vaccaro & White who frequently works on behalf of bicyclists and pedestrians.
Of those, the most important might be mobilizing people, Mr. Vaccaro said. He noted some council candidates may have already taken in as many campaign contributions as they are legally allowed, but might need other support that can be organized by the PAC.
"We think we can harness what we've already seen is a burgeoning movement in communities and neighborhoods, something that is evident to anyone who's been attending community board meetings and town halls and other public events over last five years," Mr. Vaccaro said.
Eric McClure, a co-founder of the group Park Slope Neighbors and another board member of the PAC, said the committee could raise around $100,000, a figure that could have "a significant effect" in some races.
The PAC would be permitted to give up to $2,750 to council candidates, and more to citywide candidates. Another board member, Aaron Naparstek, founded the influential Streetsblog, which has pushed for amenities for nondrivers and against what supporters feel is an overemphasis on accommodating automobiles.
The board members declined to identify candidates they might target for defeat, emphasizing what they say is the broad popularity of bike infrastructure, such as pedestrian plazas.
But sharp disagreement emanates from other powerful corners. Council member James Vacca, the chairman of the transportation committee, upbraided Department of Transportation officials at a public hearing earlier this spring, criticizing everything from restaurant delivery bikers to a rise in the cost of city parking lots.
Critics, including a pair of local newspaper columnists, have taken special aim at DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, whose department has presided over a biking boom, including the building of more than 300 miles of on-street bike lanes.
The new PAC is undeterred.
"The more we can encourage people to leave their cars at home and commute on foot or on a bike or on transit, the more it makes the street safe for everybody," Mr. McClure said.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE AVAILABLE AT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323789704578443391351395804.html
